Vending-machine.



L. V. KUHN.

VENDING MACH lNE. APPHCATION FILED JUNE 18, 191a.

Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

L. V. KUHN.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPUCATION FILED JUNE-Z18, x915. T x n 1,245,928. Patent-M1501 6. RM.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

arrows and with removed. ,v a In the drawings there is shown a mam Units srefrnisr onto LOUIS V..KUHN, or COLUMBUS, onto, ASSIGNOR. To THE comm/[Bus VENDING 00M Perr on COLUMBUS, OHIO, A CORPORATION oFonIo.

VENDING-MACHINE.

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known thatI, LOUIS -V. KUHN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and trol mechanism of such nature whereby'the insertion of a coin of predetermined value may be usedas the means whereby the machine as a whole, may be operated.

The'main object ofrniy invention resides in a peculiar arrangement of locking bar and release bar for normally holding the machine as a whole in locked position, the locking bar. itself being released by the action of a coin in connection with the release bar. In this manner a structure of very simple de sign and of comparatively low cost may be used to guard against the unauthorizedmanipulation of the machine when vending articles of the desired nature. I V

A further object of my invention, resides in the provision of a structure to be used in combination with a plurality of operating members whereby only oneof, these operating members may be manipulated at any one time. .In this connection it is to be understood that a plurality of operating members are provided whereby a machine" may be built to vend different articles of the same or different values, the guard structure itself being provided to insure the owner that a customer will not obtain more than one article by one operation. I

Further objects of my invention reside in the structure, more or less specific, as is shown in the accompanying sheets of drawings wherein similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts and wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan viewof the operating mechanism of my machine,

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of this operating mechanism,

1 Fig. 31s a section taken on line 8 3 of Fig.2 and looking in the direotionof the arrows, and, i H

s Fig. .4 is an enlarged section taken on line H of Fig. llooking in thedirection of the a portionof the framework specification of Letters Patent. i Application filed .TunelS, 1915. 1 Serial No. 34,923.

Patented Nov. 6, 191,7

body casting designated 1 mounted upon the base 2 by means of rivets or the like shown at 3. At one end of the machine and lead. ing inwardly and downwardly from the front thereof, there is a coin chute 4 and mounted between the end pieces of the main body casting in a position directly beneath the coin chute, is the main frame plate 5. N This frame plateslidably carries a plurality of slide operating members 6 on its upper surface, these operatin members being cut out as isshown at 7 to form a dispensing pocket to cooperate with dispensing mechanism not shown in the drawings. Each of these slide members is also provided with a forwardly projecting tongue or lip 8, these portions 8 serving as hand grips for the convenient operation of the machine as a whole, aftera coin has been placed in the coin chute 4. One longitudinal edge portion of each of the slide members is provided with a ledge such as is shownat 9, the portions 10 and '11 of these ledges beinginclined to form a camway for purposes to be hereinafter described. The ledge along each longitudinal- .edge portion of each of the slide members,

is also provided with a cut-out portionto form a shoulder such as is shown at 12, these shoulders being designed to normally maintain. the machine in locked position by cooperation with a locking bar 13. It will be noted that 'this locking bar is of substantially U-shape, the leg portions 14 of the same being pivoted about a screw shown at 15. There is also provided a release bar designated 16, this release bar being similar in shapeto the locking bar 13 and being similarly mounted, that is, mountedv to pivot .about'its legs 17 and in the present instance about the same pivot screw 15 about which the locking bar 13 pivots. The locking bar 13- isnormally forced to the position shown in Fig. 3, under the influence of the torsion spring 35, while the release bar maintains its positionby gravity. This locking bar 13 is provided with a deflector finger shown, at

18, this deflector finger projecting to a point directly adjacent the opening of the coin chute, in order that it may-cooperate with the coin when the same is placed therein, .as

is shown inidotted outline in Fig. 3. From this figure'and in connection with Fig.1, it will be noted that the deflector finger 18'is solocated and is of such width that it may engage the upper half of the coin when in the position shown in Fig. 3. Further, this deflector finger is rigidly and adjustably mounted "uponthe locking bar bymeans'of a slotted connectionwith itsattaching' screw 19, this adjustment being provided to adapt the machine to various sizes of coins as may be. the desire of the owner. The releasetbar 'is provided with aforwardly projecting element 20, this element beingaprovided with a laterally extending table portion 21. The projecting element is rigidly.mounted en onelegof a U-shaped release baryas is she n at 22- and the arrangement is such that the table-portion projects directly beneath the open'end of the coin chute l and is inclined slightly as is shown 'to prevent rearward --1novement of the coin whenone of-theslide membersis operated.

The operation of the structure "thus far described is as follows: A coinis placed in the coin chute t and because of its inclina 'tionythiscoin will descend to assume the position-shown iii-dotted outlinein Fig.3, inwhichposition it rests upon'the inclined table I 21 carried by the forwardly project- "ing el'ement '20. A pull on any one o'f the SllClG'DlQlDbQiS G'by grasping its forwardly projecting tongue 8, will bring its campertion 10 into engagement with the release bar 16 and during the continued forward inovei nent of the slide element, this release barwillbe elevated. It will be noted that there is a certainamount of 'play or lost motion because of the cut-out portion form- 5 ing the shoul der 12,-but before the shoulder -1--2"has 'moved forwardly a distance sulficient to engage-the locking bar 13 the inclined portion '10 will have elevated 1 the release b'ar to such an extent that the *for- "wardly projecting element '20 rigidly car- --ried by'it,'will alsohave wedged'the coin into engagement with the forwardly projecting'finger 1S rigidly carried by the looking 'bar. This upward movement 'Qftlle release bar is, therefore, communicated to the locking bar 13' and" as arcsult, it will be elevated I a distance suiiicientto p ermit the "passage oft-he *sl-ideplate forward without causing anengagement between the locking barand't-he shoulder 12. ln'this manner, the-machine isun-l'ocked to permit itsoperation. Its operation thus far described, leaves both the 'tablefll and the finger 18 -in contact with-the coin and as a-result,-'itcannot *drop into the money drawer. A's soon "as the release bar 16'has reached the straight surface 23bet-ween the camways '10'and 1-1, the locking bar 18 'will have been brought into engagement with the cam-way 10 and consequently forward movement of the *slide member will cause anaddition'alelevation of I this locking bar, which brings its fingerlB out of engagement'vs' ith the upper hilf'of the coin and-becauseof the inclined bring the "serr: v the pawlsQG wlll slightly tiltfthe respective be-noted thateach of the slide members 6 is provided with a depending shoulder 24: on

its underside, one edge of each shoulder being serrated as is shown at 25. These serra tlons are designed to coiiperate with pawls :pivo'ted .i-ntermediate their ends, as is shown at 27 and normally held in the position shown in Fig Q by-th'e' coil springsQS. For *artl movement of 'the -slidc m'ember G to one. into engagement-with pawl against-the tension'of-the spring 28 an d as result, rearward I movement of slit slide "'mem'ber before it :ha-s :completed its stroke to move the serrations beyond-aposition' of engagement with thelpa wl 26, is prevented.

'ln'order to :giziard against possibility 'of more than'oneslide member being. operated by the use eta single coin, l have PI'OVlQl'Gfl a plurality of guard plates 29' as is shown particularly-in Fig. 2,'these guard :plates being one less in number than (the total number of slide plates 6. :plates are mounted to "move transversely to the path :of movement of the. slide These a guard plates by 'means ot the pin and'slot connection, such as is :designated generally at 3O. lt will also be :noted that therear edge of 'each of the guard plates has its corners-cut a'way,:as:is shown at 31,130 for-m lnchnes for cotiperationwith operatingbolts '32 carried one to each oif the sl-i de members 6 and prOJeCting through the slots :1n' the imam frame plate. These operatingxbolts32 are preferably carried at a point i in the. .1011- gitudinal center line of "each 'of the slide members and the gu'ard'plates themselves are of :a width si ibstantially equal. in idth to the slid'e memb'ers.

The operation of this portion of the mechanism is as fJ OllOWS z Referring particu- 'larly to'the right of Fig.2, forward movement of this slide member '6, it'being assumed that a conrhas 'been'iplaced i-nthe theri ght of the right hand-guard plate This incline causes "the; shifting of all' of the guard plates "to the left under the influence of the forwardmovement or the: slide plate, by the engagement of the operating bolt-32.

When these guard plates have been thus "shifted, their relation isju'st the opposite from that as is shown in Fig. 2, and conse- -quently it 'will' be impossible f for any one of the other slide members to be moved'forwardly, since there isnot room suflicien-t' to permit the spreading of the guardplates position shown in Fig. 2, the operation of the second slide member from the right will cause a shifting of the first and second guard plate 29 counted from the left, to the left and leave the third guard plate in the position it is shown. This movement of the two guard plates provides a path of a distance sufficient to accommodate the movement of the corresponding operating bolt 32 before movement of any of the others is blocked.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying sheets of drawings, it will be apparent that I have provided a comparatively simple type of vending machine wherein fraudulent operation is practically impossible. Also, the structure is very simple in its nature and may, therefore, be produced at a comparatively small cost.

VWmt I claim, is:

1. In a vending machine, a slide operating member formed with a camway and a locking shoulder, a substantially U-shaped locking bar pivoted bv its legs and arranged to cooperate with said shoulder, a substantially U-shaped release bar pivoted by its legs and arranged to cooperate with said camway, a coin chute, a finger element rig- Copies of this patent may be obtained for idly carried by said locking bar and projecting to a pointy ad acent said chute to engage the upper half of a coin therein, and

a table element rigidly carried by said release bar and projecting to a point adjacent said chute to engage the under half of a coin therein, the arrangement being such that a pull on said slide member will elevate said locking bar through the elevation of said release bar caused by the release bar engaging said camway.

2. In a vending machine, a plurality of slide operating members each formed with a camway and a locking shoulder, a substantially U-shaped locking bar pivoted by its legs and arranged to cooperate with said shoulders, a substantially U-shaped release bar pivoted by its legs and arranged to cooperate with said camway, controlling means for said slide members whereby only one of them may be in operation atv any one time, a finger element rigidly carried by said locking bar and projecting to a point adjacent said chute to engage the upper half of a coin therein, and a table element rigidly carried by said release bar and projecting to a point adjacent said chute to engage the'under half of a coin therein, the arrangement being such that a pull on said slide member will elevate said locking bar through the elevation of said release bar caused by the release .bar engaging said camway.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS V. KUHN.

Witnesses:

WALTER E. L. BooK, A. L. PHELrs.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 1 

